So I don't have time to go into detail right now as a ton of stuff has happened recently, but I'm going to leave myself bullet point highlights so that I can return to things later and fill in the blanks. I am back online after having a full week without internet. Anyways, remind me to tell you (or if you're interested, ask me) about:
~Secretary of Foreign Affairs
~Night of the Churros
~All hands on deck load-in
~Puebla family
~Cholula
~Payasos
~San Luis Potosi reception
~Mariachi promo in the streets
~University "rally"
In true fashion, I'll start right at the end. Let's just start with the fact that tonight was absolutely amazing. I've recently started trying to take more chances and just go for things rather than justifying them away. Today was one of those days. Near the end of an already crazy day, one of the staff members mentioned that there was a rally at a University in town and they wanted some people to promote there. Being the marketing intern, it made sense that I would go help promote, so I volunteered. We were all in for a huge surprise. Now, as tends to happen in our Mexico cities, we didn't really have a clue what we were supposed to be doing. We just knew we had a place to meet some students and that we'd probably be done at a certain time. Well the "rally" turned out to be a scavenger hunt. There were eight teams (and eight of us) so we were divided with one Uppie in each scavenger group. Our only instructions were "Please speak only in English. They have to figure out how to work with you, but please speak in English." Well, that lasted about 10 minutes. The problem with a scavenger hunt and having a time limit is that you want to do things as quickly as possible and it makes it a lot easier when you don't have to feign ignorance, so I used a lot of Spanglish to try to at least mix the two.
Basically, each team had 4 different characters they had to find and each character had a task associated with them that needed to be completed. All the characters were from San Luis Potosi lore, so there was Juan de Jarro (I'm not sure what exactly he was - some sort of apothecary-looking person) who told us that one member of our team had to learn how to make a "trenza" and had to make one at least 3 cm long. Well a trenza turned out to be hair weaving, where you take thread and knot it around the hair. Our next task was to find envelopes with puzzle pieces in them and make a puzzle. Let's just say that my team's color was brown and trying to find 5 brown envelopes in a dark park with only the light of a cell phone was not the easiest task. After that, we found the clown. We had to make up one of our members as a clown and perform a "show" until people in the "audience" gave money for a total of 5 pesos. Our last activity was to create a cheer using 5 words that were given to us that included specific movements and a pyramid. It was a ton of fun. Our chant became "Amigos unidos, amigos unidos, todos juntos vamos a ganar." (Translated that means "Friends unite, friends unite, all together we're going to win.")
So yeah, sometimes when you take a risk you come out on top. This was definitely one of those times. There's nothing quite like running (as fast as possible, mind you) through the dark streets of an unfamiliar city with people you've never met who speak a language that you (more or less) don't. It was brilliant.
That's all for now,
~Molly
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Saturday, April 5, 2008
La Cultura
Ahh yes, Thursday. Thursday we went to a college campus in the southern part of Mexico City (I'm hosted in the north). We had another mini-show there. Again, we used costumes. This time, rather than having to change on both sides of the stage, we had to change in the big truck we carry all our equipment in. That means we had to run all the way off stage and over to the side, climb up into the truck, change, jump down, then run to whichever side we entered from next. Did I mention this city is approximately 2 miles high? Needless to say, we were all out of breath pretty quickly. After our show was a reception with regional Mexican food. It was really good.
We were treated to a special performance of Romeo and Juliet by some of the college students. Our schedule said Romeo y Julieta, denoting Spanish. The poster on campus said Romeo et Juliette, denoting French. Let the confusion begin! When the announcer introduced the show he welcomed us all to the musical, Romeo y Julieta. Well the show began with a big song and dance number - in French. All right, we thought to ourselves, it's in French. The song ended and the next scene began... in Spanish. Wait, what? Oh right. The costumes were really cool, kind of a gothic style with the Montagues in black and the Capulets in red. The show was really good, but I can now say that I saw Romeo and Juliet in Spanish with French songs in Mexico. They had a really cool addition to the show which I guess would best be described as fate. There was a dancer all dressed in white who was shown directing all the moments where the plot turned - whether it was passing the knife used to stab someone or stealing a letter from the messenger. It was very effective, especially with the dark costumes the rest of the cast had.
At the end of the day, our host sister took us out for tacos, so we got home around 12:30. That made it quite difficult as the next day we had to leave the house before 6:00 a.m. Why? You might ask. There was a group of 15 of us who went to a television studio to perform for some show that I don't know the name of. After we finished there we walked to our meeting place where the rest of the cast was. We rehearsed some and then went to Los Pinos, a.k.a. Mexico's White House. We received a tour of the grounds and were officially received by the President's wife. We sang "Viva la Gente" for her and she sang right along with us mouthing every single word. It was neat to see all of us dressed up in our fancy attire as opposed to our day-to-day rehearsal clothes.
When we left Los Pinos we went back to our meeting place where we did another mini-show (yes, that makes 3 days in a row) for the press. Apparently we were on the 10:00 news here, but I didn't watch. I got interviewed for the first time in English. We had a little bit of time to hang out before our bus came, which was nice to have some down time. I sat next to Jared, one of my hometeam leaders, on the bus ride and we came to the realization that we are both equally nerdy. I never would have guessed.
I came home and took a quick nap before eating and heading out again. Our host sister took us to a salsa club where we danced all night. By all night, I mean that we got home around 4:00 this morning. I danced with 5 or 6 different people, which was cool to see the different styles with which people lead. Most were decent partners, but one was great. He led with confidence so you knew which way you were turning and how far and all those details that make a girl look good. I even got a few compliments on my salsa skills :-) Today is our free day, which means sleep! My roommate and I both slept really late and so far we've just lazed about. We're probably going to go into the city to hang out with some people and get coffee later. With that, I think I'm up to date! Huzzah! Now I just have a ton of pictures to upload. The connection is a bit slow so it takes a long time to upload. Be patient and there will be more up soon.
Adios,
~Molly
We were treated to a special performance of Romeo and Juliet by some of the college students. Our schedule said Romeo y Julieta, denoting Spanish. The poster on campus said Romeo et Juliette, denoting French. Let the confusion begin! When the announcer introduced the show he welcomed us all to the musical, Romeo y Julieta. Well the show began with a big song and dance number - in French. All right, we thought to ourselves, it's in French. The song ended and the next scene began... in Spanish. Wait, what? Oh right. The costumes were really cool, kind of a gothic style with the Montagues in black and the Capulets in red. The show was really good, but I can now say that I saw Romeo and Juliet in Spanish with French songs in Mexico. They had a really cool addition to the show which I guess would best be described as fate. There was a dancer all dressed in white who was shown directing all the moments where the plot turned - whether it was passing the knife used to stab someone or stealing a letter from the messenger. It was very effective, especially with the dark costumes the rest of the cast had.
At the end of the day, our host sister took us out for tacos, so we got home around 12:30. That made it quite difficult as the next day we had to leave the house before 6:00 a.m. Why? You might ask. There was a group of 15 of us who went to a television studio to perform for some show that I don't know the name of. After we finished there we walked to our meeting place where the rest of the cast was. We rehearsed some and then went to Los Pinos, a.k.a. Mexico's White House. We received a tour of the grounds and were officially received by the President's wife. We sang "Viva la Gente" for her and she sang right along with us mouthing every single word. It was neat to see all of us dressed up in our fancy attire as opposed to our day-to-day rehearsal clothes.
When we left Los Pinos we went back to our meeting place where we did another mini-show (yes, that makes 3 days in a row) for the press. Apparently we were on the 10:00 news here, but I didn't watch. I got interviewed for the first time in English. We had a little bit of time to hang out before our bus came, which was nice to have some down time. I sat next to Jared, one of my hometeam leaders, on the bus ride and we came to the realization that we are both equally nerdy. I never would have guessed.
I came home and took a quick nap before eating and heading out again. Our host sister took us to a salsa club where we danced all night. By all night, I mean that we got home around 4:00 this morning. I danced with 5 or 6 different people, which was cool to see the different styles with which people lead. Most were decent partners, but one was great. He led with confidence so you knew which way you were turning and how far and all those details that make a girl look good. I even got a few compliments on my salsa skills :-) Today is our free day, which means sleep! My roommate and I both slept really late and so far we've just lazed about. We're probably going to go into the city to hang out with some people and get coffee later. With that, I think I'm up to date! Huzzah! Now I just have a ton of pictures to upload. The connection is a bit slow so it takes a long time to upload. Be patient and there will be more up soon.
Adios,
~Molly
Monterrey? More like Monte-yay
Show day in Monterrey brought up a lot of new experiences - my first double show day, my first alumni reception, and my first on-camera interview in Spanish. Having two shows in one day is such a unique experience, because we're all so used to having our show and then going immediately into breaking down the set and interviewing prospective students. It was weird to stay in my show costume all day.
Our first show went pretty well. We were still trying to gain confidence as it was our first time performing our Mexican medley. The audience was much quieter than I imagined - they were very polite, but seemed to be enjoying it.
Our second show was awesome. The crowd was a bit bigger and a bit more raucous. During one of our songs ("I Can Believe") I looked out to see a few cell phones waving back and forth, lighter style. After a while a few more joined in, and then a few more. Eventually there were cell phones waving through 3/4 of the audience. In the dark they looked like stars twinkling in the distance. I first noticed when I looked over at the singer who had this smile of surprise on her face. I looked at the person sharing the microphone with me and we both got huge grins on our faces as we continued the song. It's amazing how something so small can make such a difference. I only wish more of the cast was on stage at that point so they didn't have to experience it second-hand.
Monday morning we left Monterrey and traveled to Mexico City, where I am currently. Mexico City is... HUGE. Our days are usually pretty long, but they're even longer when you add in Mexico City travel time and traffic. I spend between an hour and a half and 4 hours traveling each day, which makes our normal 10-12 hour days much longer. Needless to say, sleep is far from abundant. That being said, our days have been packed with activities.
Our first full day here we traveled to Teotihuacan, the ancient pyramids. The pictures really speak for themselves (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mollyskye218/sets/72157604366099067/). All I can say is that it was the perfect day to be there. When I reached the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, there was a yellow butterfly that just kept flying around like crazy. Eventually another joined it, but the original was up there the whole time I was. After Teotihuacan we visited MUNAL, one of the most famous art galleries in the city.
On Wednesday we worked in the classrooms of a school here. The school itself has the oddest architecture I've encountered. The classrooms all look like pods, with one stacked on top of the next. It's very futuristic. We worked with 3 classes and had a mini-show for all 1000+ students in the school. It was our first time using specialty dance costumes for a mini-show, which led to a few problems when I realized during our rehearsal that half my costumes were on one side and half on the other. Due to different entrances, my shoes ended up on one side when I had to change on the other. Fortunately, one of my castmates had an extra pair of shoes that I borrowed for half the show. It went over pretty well with all of us being asked for pictures and autographs afterward.
As for the classes themselves, there's an interesting contrast. The school we were at was a bilingual school, so the students are more or less familiar with English (the older they are, the more exposure they've had). The three of us who worked together began in a sixth grade class. They understood some of what we said, but I ended up translating a good portion of it into Spanish so we could make sure they got as much out of it as possible. They were a good class, very attentive, and very interested in what we were doing. They also had some great ideas about ways to make their community better.
Our second class was an 8th grade class and man were they difficult. They were so loud we couldn't hear ourselves, and it was quite frustrating to go an hour and a half without having a single moment of silence. We ended up getting through about half of what we had planned, but there's only so much you can do with an unwilling audience. Some of them were very receptive and we ended up taking the opportunity of them talking all the time to talk about respect. For the last 10 minutes, they suddenly got quiet - we're not sure why. We're just hoping that perhaps our lesson of respecting others when talking will translate into helping their regular teacher.
Our last class was... amazing. They had said that there was a portion of the student body that was different than the normal students. They were less privileged, but were given the opportunity to go to this private school at a very discounted rate as long as they maintained a certain grade point average. I knew that these would be good students, as they actually wanted to be at school rather than being forced to. I was right. Every one of them was engaged. Since many of them were indigenous people, many didn't have the opportunity to learn as much English as the other classes. Again, I translated most of what was said to make sure they understood the meaning. Our lesson plan got rearranged because some of the things we were talking about flowed right into another activity and the transitions were effortless. At the end, we taught them a few songs that we sing to get ourselves energized. They went crazy for them. One was in Spanish and one in English, and they were so enthusiastic - even the teacher got into it. After that they taught us two similar songs in Spanish. The kids who had all been reserved and shy were no longer. They were shouting and laughing and having a great time. As we left the classroom, we were accompanied by the singing and energy along with shouts of "Thank you!" and chants of "Viva la Gente!" It was the best class I've been in.
This is where I'll stop this one so that you can split your reading into two parts, because this is really long already.
~Molly
Our first show went pretty well. We were still trying to gain confidence as it was our first time performing our Mexican medley. The audience was much quieter than I imagined - they were very polite, but seemed to be enjoying it.
Our second show was awesome. The crowd was a bit bigger and a bit more raucous. During one of our songs ("I Can Believe") I looked out to see a few cell phones waving back and forth, lighter style. After a while a few more joined in, and then a few more. Eventually there were cell phones waving through 3/4 of the audience. In the dark they looked like stars twinkling in the distance. I first noticed when I looked over at the singer who had this smile of surprise on her face. I looked at the person sharing the microphone with me and we both got huge grins on our faces as we continued the song. It's amazing how something so small can make such a difference. I only wish more of the cast was on stage at that point so they didn't have to experience it second-hand.
Monday morning we left Monterrey and traveled to Mexico City, where I am currently. Mexico City is... HUGE. Our days are usually pretty long, but they're even longer when you add in Mexico City travel time and traffic. I spend between an hour and a half and 4 hours traveling each day, which makes our normal 10-12 hour days much longer. Needless to say, sleep is far from abundant. That being said, our days have been packed with activities.
Our first full day here we traveled to Teotihuacan, the ancient pyramids. The pictures really speak for themselves (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mollyskye218/sets/72157604366099067/). All I can say is that it was the perfect day to be there. When I reached the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, there was a yellow butterfly that just kept flying around like crazy. Eventually another joined it, but the original was up there the whole time I was. After Teotihuacan we visited MUNAL, one of the most famous art galleries in the city.
On Wednesday we worked in the classrooms of a school here. The school itself has the oddest architecture I've encountered. The classrooms all look like pods, with one stacked on top of the next. It's very futuristic. We worked with 3 classes and had a mini-show for all 1000+ students in the school. It was our first time using specialty dance costumes for a mini-show, which led to a few problems when I realized during our rehearsal that half my costumes were on one side and half on the other. Due to different entrances, my shoes ended up on one side when I had to change on the other. Fortunately, one of my castmates had an extra pair of shoes that I borrowed for half the show. It went over pretty well with all of us being asked for pictures and autographs afterward.
As for the classes themselves, there's an interesting contrast. The school we were at was a bilingual school, so the students are more or less familiar with English (the older they are, the more exposure they've had). The three of us who worked together began in a sixth grade class. They understood some of what we said, but I ended up translating a good portion of it into Spanish so we could make sure they got as much out of it as possible. They were a good class, very attentive, and very interested in what we were doing. They also had some great ideas about ways to make their community better.
Our second class was an 8th grade class and man were they difficult. They were so loud we couldn't hear ourselves, and it was quite frustrating to go an hour and a half without having a single moment of silence. We ended up getting through about half of what we had planned, but there's only so much you can do with an unwilling audience. Some of them were very receptive and we ended up taking the opportunity of them talking all the time to talk about respect. For the last 10 minutes, they suddenly got quiet - we're not sure why. We're just hoping that perhaps our lesson of respecting others when talking will translate into helping their regular teacher.
Our last class was... amazing. They had said that there was a portion of the student body that was different than the normal students. They were less privileged, but were given the opportunity to go to this private school at a very discounted rate as long as they maintained a certain grade point average. I knew that these would be good students, as they actually wanted to be at school rather than being forced to. I was right. Every one of them was engaged. Since many of them were indigenous people, many didn't have the opportunity to learn as much English as the other classes. Again, I translated most of what was said to make sure they understood the meaning. Our lesson plan got rearranged because some of the things we were talking about flowed right into another activity and the transitions were effortless. At the end, we taught them a few songs that we sing to get ourselves energized. They went crazy for them. One was in Spanish and one in English, and they were so enthusiastic - even the teacher got into it. After that they taught us two similar songs in Spanish. The kids who had all been reserved and shy were no longer. They were shouting and laughing and having a great time. As we left the classroom, we were accompanied by the singing and energy along with shouts of "Thank you!" and chants of "Viva la Gente!" It was the best class I've been in.
This is where I'll stop this one so that you can split your reading into two parts, because this is really long already.
~Molly
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